


Campfire Chaos

by ajadesnowman



Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure, Chaos, Fire, Gen, Giant Spiders, Humor, Meaningless Romp, Oneshot, lots of yelling, not according to plan, probably just a oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7565317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ajadesnowman/pseuds/ajadesnowman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Markus tries to actually sit everyone down around a campfire and have an actual conversation with them about everything. Things really don't go according to plan. First two paragraphs in Markus' point of view, everything else is basically Ashe. Only rated Teen because of cursing, and because of a big, scary spider. Set sometime after Big War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Campfire Chaos

**"Come on guys, just gather around the campfire. I swear it's not even half as dangerous as the last one... Ashe stop looking at me like that."** Markus was the one speaking, glancing over at the white-haired one when she gave him a doubtful look. Come on, it wasn't like his campfires where always dangerous. Sure, there was that one fire that he'd lit on a table outside the bar that leeched all of the warmth from the air for at least a week, but this wasn't that kind of fire, sadly. That fire had been one of his more impressive creations... when he had still been a Sorcelock. It partially registered in his mind how long ago that had actually been. However, he didn't dwell too long on that thought, quickly realizing that he'd coaxed Ashe to a location that wasn't too far from the fire, leaning against a rock.

She was a logical distance away, in contrast to Kyr who was way too close to it, poking experimentally at it with a stick. But she wasn't the furthest from the flames. Gregor had fallen asleep a number of feet away (that kid always went to bed right on time), and closer than Thog... who was Gods know where right now. He'd wandered off for a smoke a few hours ago and hadn't come back. Nowadays it wasn't even too unusual. Thog had wandered off the longest time in the middle of that ginormous war between the clans, and it had only been later they'd found out he'd been in the Banlands. Even still, he wasn't too surprised the gun-wielding man had slipped away to avoid anything that could remotely be considered "bonding."

 **"Markus, why are you trying to be so nice right now?"** Ashe's yellow eyes were fixed on him for the moment, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the edge of her tunic as shifted, trying to find a comfortable position leaning against the rock. Automatically, Markus pulled a blue pillow out of his bag, tossing it to a now bemused Ashe.

 **"Because this is the first time we've all been in one place for... well a couple of weeks."** He glanced over at Kyr, who nodded in agreement. Kyr was now holding something else over the fire, something that definitely wasn't a stick. It sparked menacingly, causing Ashe to slowly pull her feet away from that fire again. **"And it honestly _feels_ like it's been a lot longer than just that."**

 **"Sure... okay but, what are we going to do around a campfire? Tell ghost stor-..."** Ashe was cut off by a squeak from Kyr, the large man shuffling away from the fire and slinking behind Markus like an oversized puppy. Markus' eyes also widened in surprise at the comment, only adding to Ashe's confusion as a sudden side conversation sparked between Markus and Kyr... sparking like the device Kyr had dropped in the fire in his haste. Ashe tensed up, only half paying attention to the two idiots as she made a dive for the fire, using her foot to kick the device clear of the fire.

**"G-G-G-Ghosts?!? Markus, she said ghosts."**

**"SHE SAID GHOSTS."**

**"Well, at least she didn't mention sk-sk-skeletons."**

**"SKELATONS...-"**

The two made blubbering noises for a solid two minutes, not really paying attention to their white-haired friend who was currently holding a now ticking device, keeping it as far from her person as possible. She could feel a strange but familiar energy pulsating under the surface of the device, enough to send the hairs on her neck on end.

Ticking and something Kyr had been messing with? Oh, she knew what the end result was going to be. This thing was definitely going explode. She had no doubt in her mind whatsoever. Her experience with all of his devices had been generally... if anything extreme effected them they were gonna go boom. As the beeping sped up, her adrenaline kicked and with a panicked shout she threw the device away from the campsite, as far as she could into the air. The device soared into a nearby tree, exploding with sparks.

However, there was something distinctive about those sparks. It wasn't your average Kyr _plosion_. No, there was something that sounded and looked very similar to one of Markus' eldritch blasts. In addition to that, Ashe felt the magical shockwave of the explosion hit the air. It was definitely not a good feeling. She stared at the explosion for a long moment, her yellow eyes glowing in shock. She glanced over in the direction of the two _idiots_. She couldn't even relax for a few minutes, much less a few hours. Within a second, she exploded, gesturing wildly as she shouted.

**" _MARKUS._ WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"**

By the time she turned back around, both of the two had stumbled to their feet, actually still taking about ghosts right until that explosion. Markus lifted a finger, glancing around dramatically before his gaze rested back on Ashe, his finger moving to point at the explosion. The tree the explosion had hit was still shouldering. He only half-answered Ashe, still sounding like he was mostly talking to Kyr. **"That isn't good. That really isn't good."**

**"WHAT ISN'T GOOD."**

Kyr nodded to Markus, staring at the now smoldering tree, **"Yeah that's definitely an emergency. Ashe, why did you throw that?"** The attention finally turned back to Ashe, who was now shouting at the top of her lungs. It was enough for her to not even notice Gregor's quiet approach behind her. Gregor was slowly walking up behind Ashe, his glaive in hand as his attention flipped between the talking people, looking surprisingly awake for someone who had been sleeping two minutes ago, before everything went to hell (as usual).

 **"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?! IT WAS TICKING when Kyr's things start ticking that usually means they're about to, you know."** She made an exploding motion with her hand. Markus shook his head, waving the comment away quickly.

 **"No, no, this wasn't a bomb. I don't know how you could have mistaken it for that. Ashe, that was our only weapon against the giant, magical spider."** Kyr nodded vigorously, while Ashe looked between them in a mix of shock and growing panic. It was just as she got an instinct to launch forward and strangle Markus for being such an idiot, she felt something cool touch her cheek. The flat of Gregor's glaive. She felt the annoying instant calm spread over her, the magic cooling down her heated temper. Gregor's voice came from a few feet behind her.

 **"It'll be okay Ashe, we can easily defeat a couple of magical spiders. Everything will be fine,"** he intoned, his brown eyes looking around at the forest around them as he spoke. Ashe swatted the glaive away from her cheek, annoyed that the tranquil magic of the glaive actually managed to calm her down to a less ear-splitting volume. She calmer, but still not exactly _collected_. After all they'd gone from almost relaxing next to a campfire to apparently preparing for battle in under two minutes. Apparently a battle against... **"Spiders? Why are there magic spiders?"**

 **"Well, just _one_ spider."** Markus was the one to answer this, and she could see an eldritch blast now building in his palm. His eyes were fixed on the trees, scanning cautiously. His words were still casual as always, but there was definitely a hint of true concern lacing his words that he was trying to keep hidden. Markus stepped through the campfire (fireproof as always), moving to stand slightly in front of the three others. The gesture wasn't lost on Ashe, since it was usually Gregor who did that, not Markus. The blonde tiefling usually kept his distance, since he was more of a long-range spellcaster.

He glanced back at Ashe, answering, **"Ah, yeah, that's kind of one of things I was going to discuss with you around the campfire but... all you need to know is that's a big hell spider that a rival tiefling is currently trying to use to kill me. And we should run."**

 **" _Markus_...-"** Ashe's voice cut off when she heard the snapping of tree branches, something coming in on them from both sides. From the direction Markus was facing, a huge spider glowing with dark, blood red energy slowly walked out of the brush. It looked like a black widow, sleek and deadly, a red hourglass on it's belly. From the opposite side, came Thog, running at full speed, an almost wild look in his eye as he stared at Markus. His gun was out and cocked, pointed at the ground.

Ashe looked at Thog, a bit incredulously, **"Thog?!?"** The dark-haired man just shook his head, looking at the place the eldritch spider-repellant device had exploded. He mumbled a few words, which vaguely sounded like, _"My middle manager sense was tingling,"_ before taking a few steps forward, standing next to Markus with his gun pointed directly at the spider. It was as Gregor ran forward to attack the spider that Thog hurriedly asked, **"Okay, what's the situation?"**

Markus flung the blast of eldritch energy he'd been saving, the ball soaring over Gregor's head and impacting the spider in the face. The attack did effect it, but not by much. It paused momentarily, blinking it's many eyes before moving forward again. **"Basically there's a giant spider from hell here that's come to kill me."**

**" _What the fuck._ What did you do Markus?"**

It was as Gregor's glaive hit the beast that the red energy around it crackled, shocking Gregor like some dark electricity and sending him flying several feet back, slamming into Kyr and sending both tumbling into a pile on the ground. Thog and Ashe both stared at the two, almost identical expressions of shock on their faces. Ashe, cursing under her breath, skidded to her knees to check on the two. Kyr had the wind knocked out of him, but he seemed no worse for wear. Gregor, on the other hand, was completely unconscious, his glaive laying a few feet away from him. Ashe's hands pressed against Gregor's chest, assessing the damage.

 **"I'm pretty sure the best option is run? Just accept our defeat and get far, far away from here."** Kyr nodded in agreement, looking even more scarred as the spider approached. Ashe just gave them all an incredulous look, before looking back down at Gregor. It was like he'd been stuck by some kind of magic lightning. It wasn't something that was going to be repaired quickly, but she had a feeling they needed to move, like _now_. Her hands sparked with green energy, and she placed her hands on his chest, the healing magic running through him, a quick attempt to keep him stable while they ran for their lives.

She got back to her feet, picking up Gregor's glaive as she went, looking at the engineer, **"Kyr, grab Gregor and get him out of here. I'll need to heal him more later. Head back to the bar."**

 **"Yeah, yup, I'll do that. Uhm, _doing_ that,"** he picked up Gregor bridal style, before running the direction Thog had come from earlier -- away from the spider. It left Thog, Markus, and Ashe still facing the monstrous spider. Thog shot a barrage of bullets at the thing, all of them seeming to melt as soon as they got closer than 5 feet from the creature. Markus sent another eldritch blast at the thing, which was the only attack that seemed to have any remote effect on it. Ashe made an aggravated sound, grabbing both of them by the collars, pulling them back.

**"Didn't we agree that we're _running_ and not _fighting_?!"**

**"I'm not arguing with that,"** Thog grumbled, clicking the safety on is gun and moving quickly for the edge of the forest, glancing back as he got to the edge of the trees. Ashe had begun to follow him, right up until she realized _there was a certain blonde teifling not following behind._

 **" _Markus_ , come on. Don't go Gregor on me and try to preform some stupidly brave stunt,"** she grabbed his arm with both of her hands, pulling him back away from the spider, relatively easily (the man was still as light as a feather). But the man slipped out of her hands, before falling over a log into the campfire. It was only after a moment's consideration he syphoned off the fire from their formerly idyllic campfire into a large ball of flame in his palm, before throwing it at the spider's face. It turned into sparkles upon impact, which actually managed to blind a few of the eyes momentarily. **" _MARKUS. HURRY UP_."**

 **"I totally planned to do that,"** he blurted, before he was yanked but by the arm by Ashe, getting pulled away again. This time the blonde-haired tiefling didn't hesitate to follow, stumbling after the white-haired healer. Thog kept pace with them, generally leading the way in their impromptu retreat. Ashe didn't protest in the slightest, after all Thog probably had the coolest head when it came to these things (usually), and not to mention he'd just come from this direction anyway... so maybe he actually knew where he was going...?

**"Thog do you happen to know a place to _hide_ from the giant hell spider!?"**

**"Ashe, you can't hide from...-"** Markus huffed, slowly becoming out of breath from the running, **"...-giant-hell-spiders. You can only defeat them or put a shield up to hide from their location. A shield that Kyr and I made and you just heartless cast in a _oof_...-"** Markus was interrupted when Ashe finally hoisted him around the middle, giving up attempting to make the light-weight mage run to speed this along. And it definitely did speed things up. They probably increased in speed at least 3 KPM without the mage slowing them. Carrying him was much more convenient.

**"Kyr dropped it the fire before I threw it! AND IT WAS TICKING, MARKUS."**

**"TICKING MEANS THE SPIDER IS CLOSE BY, ASHE. Not to throw it into a tree! The device can't withstand impacts, Ashe! Didn't you read the manual I gave you?"** He was currently flung over Ashe's shoulder, and honestly from this angle he seemed even more like an idiot now. But Ashe did remember something...

**"Manual? Do you mean that piece of wood Kyr handed me earlier with the word "Emmanuel" carved into it? I thought it was kindling for the fire."**

**"YOU THREW IT IN THE FIRE."** She felt Markus freeze, even with while she was carrying. She grumbled a complaint when he repositioned, looking over her shoulder. The spider was still coming, as expected. She felt Markus' hand disconnect from her shoulder for a moment, risking a bit of balance to cast another spell. She felt the familiar feeling of an eldritch blast forming in his hand, but way too close to her ear for comfort. But it didn't last long, since almost as soon as it formed he threw it at the creature, and again she heard it make contact, followed by a groan from the creature. **"Ashe, if we would have stayed by that fire, it would have exploded after 243 minutes exposed to flame! That's the automatic self-destruct!"**

 **"Markus, you've been spending too much time with Kyr, damnit, you know how crazy that sounds, right?"** She had finally caught up with Thog, attempting to keep pace with the man for a few moments, however Thog still had the advantage of much longer legs. Thog spoke to Markus as soon as they caught up, sounding either exhausted or exasperated or both... it was hard to tell.

**"Markus, Do you have any ideas of how to _defeat_ this thing? Because we don't have time to make one of those shield things and we'd have to find Kyr again to even start making one of those things, I'm guessing. So WHAT'S THE PLAN other than running for our lives?!"**

Markus' jaw clenched slightly, glancing back at the spider for a moment as he did. He was silent for a moment, before he suddenly wiggled out of Ashe's grasp, falling gracelessly to the ground, scrapping his hand a bit in the process. Ashe immediately skidded to a halt, Thog skidding to a halt at least 3 yards behind the other two. Ashe's yellow eyes went wide, glaive held defensively as she usually saw Gregor do,  as the spider came down upon them, with a shout of **" _MARKUS_."**

 **"I saw Inien do it once I'm sure I can manage it, easily. No problem..."** he was speaking mostly to himself, kneeling with one knee to the ground, his blonde hair blowing in his face as he ruffled around his bag, looking for something. It would have almost looked awesome if he wasn't so frantic. He soon located what he was searching for, pulling out a clear container that looked like glass. It was the same kind of container he kept that wisp in. Whatever he was doing though, his time had run out. The spider was looming over him now.

Ashe took a step forward, her heart catching in her throat, ready to summon her in-case-of emergency, definitely-not-magic if whatever Markus was doing went to hell, possibly in a literal sense. He raised his hand slightly, concentrating for a moment, his eyes closed, before his eyes snapped open just as the spider lunged forward.

  **"Reduce creature."**

A variation of the Inien's variation of his _enlarge person_ spell. And it definitely had the desired effect. Just as the spider flew forward, it shrunk to the size of a tarantula, the momentum sending it flying straight into the open glass container in Markus' hands. He immediately slammed the top onto the container, trapping it. As soon as he did this, he wrapped the glass container in shadow until it looked like nothing more than a grotesque ball of shadow held within his hands.

Ashe was staring at the ball of shadow in a state of near-shock, both confused and mildly disgusted by the appearance of the shadows. Not to mention, it registered again in her mind that something felt very different about Markus' magic. Thog, on the other hand, seemed rather unbothered. If anything, he just looked mildly annoyed, as he walked up to the two, pulling Markus back to his feet by his arm.

 **"Why didn't you just do that earlier?"** Thog grumbled, straightening his shirt, which was partially unbuttoned.

 **"I didn't think of it earlier... also I don't think this is a permanent solution. I doubt the spell is going to last much longer than it would on Gregor... wait,"** he paused, glancing back over at the other two, still rolling the ball of solidified and gross shadows in his hands. He looked specifically at Ashe, meeting her gaze. His voice was actually touching close to one of his rare moments of seriousness. **"You still need to heal him, Gregor. Not to mention Kyr is probably crying by now in a corner."**

Ashe balled up her fists, before just balling up her fists and nodding, whatever calming magic that the glaive had was actually keeping her from completely going off at Markus. She had forgotten that the glaive was in her hand instead of her own sword. It gave her arm a weird tingling sensation.

However, Thog spoke before she could. **"Okay, but first, we're taking care of the spider. Markus, that thing is small. Get rid of the shadows we're squishing it."**

**"But...-"**

Ashe spoke up, glancing at Thog, **"I'm pretty sure that's the second-best idea I've heard all day, if it would work... we can't have a murderous spider trying to kill you, Markus. And with your spells it probably wouldn't last long enough for me to finish healing Gregor."**

Markus glanced between the two of them, thinking about it for a moment, before sighing and unsummoning the shadows around the glass jar. **"It should work, but if it doesn't... everyone needs to run."** With saying that, he took the top of the container, emptying the spider onto the ground.

At the exact same moment, Ashe's foot came down on top of it. However, the satisfaction didn't last long, since almost immediately upon squishing it she heard and felt the juices of the spider burning clean through her boot and soon, her foot. Not to mention, whatever had zapped Gregor also zapped the hell out of her. For a split second, the dark red energy sparked up her leg, and for a moment she regretted stepping on the thing. However, as soon as the red electricity reached her midsection, her own not-magic kicked in, forced to life by whatever was apparently threatening it. Green sparks leaped instinctively to meet the red, the two colors mixing. Yellow sparks came out of the two mixed, discharging into the air around her.

The whole thing left Ashe feeling drained. It was like whatever power that spider had around it was the exact opposite of her own power, and it had sucked her own power out of her like water getting sucked into a vacuum. However, this wasn't the end to her woes.

The spider acid was burning through her shoe. With a yelp, she jumped back, kicking her acid-burned boot off aggressively as she leaned against a tree. Thog had taken a step forward toward Ashe, his expression betraying a hint of concern for his colleague. He looked like he was thinking of grabbing her arm or something to steady her... but his judgment got the better of him. He didn't want to get electrocuted. So he settled on just asking, **"Ashe, you good?"**

 **"I'm _fine_. I'm just pissed."** She grumbled in annoyance, watching the two as she lifted her foot to her hand, sending a few weak green sparks through it and knitting the skin back together. It wasn't much, but it would definitely be enough to keep it how it was supposed to be for as much time as she needed. In the meantime they needed to find Gregor (who still _really_ needed some healing and Kyr (who was probably panicking). Also she had to prevent a certain blonde tiefling from tasting the spider acid. Which was more likely than anything else since the acid-resistant being had already stuck his finger in the mixture, after bottling some of it in a vial. **" _Markus_ , Thog get-..."**

 **"Already on it,"** Thog responded, batting Markus' hand away from his mouth before the finger could enter his mouth, and to be even more safe generally pushing the arm behind the man's back. Markus sent an overly-dramatic look over both of them, **"I'm just trying to figure out what branch of hell the spider was from. Could give clues into who is after me... and how that thing effected Gregor _and_ you,"** he explained, mostly just looking at Ashe when he said this since Thog was partially behind him, holding his arm behind his back. There was still his usual gravitas placed in the words, but he did seem.. there was no better word than just _tired_. It was about then when she remembered what Inien had said, about Markus having been through a lot over the time they were separated.

 **"I'm _fine_. Markus, we _really_ need to talk about all of this but we need to find the other two first. Thog, you're on carry-Markus duty,"** she inquired, starting to walk around, both to check her healing magic had worked an to get used to the fact she was missing a shoe.

Markus exchanged a quick glance with Thog before taking a step towards Ashe, reaching into one of his bags as he spoke, **"What do you think I was trying to gather all of you around a peaceful campfire for, Ashe? But it seems we're getting rescheduled yet again,"** he found what he was looking for, pulling it out of his bag and tossing it to Ashe. The white-haired woman caught it, finding it to be an identical replica to one of her boots. He'd already proved to have identical copies of all their clothing, she shouldn't even be surprised. After quick inspection, she pulled it onto her foot.

 **"Thanks Markus,"** she added, before nodding at Thog. The middle-management professional took that moment to pick up Markus grudgingly, under the white-haired one's orders. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Markus boop the man on the nose, as she turned around to look for some sign of finding the tracks of the two in the dark. It wasn't too dark since the moon was high in the sky, but it would still be more of a trouble than usual. It was only luck that she noticed a place where all the branches were broken from a direction they hadn't come from. It looked about Kyr-sized. On closer inspection they seemed slightly singed which confirmed it even further. **"Come on, they went this way."**

 **"Are you sure...-"** with their usual amount of bickering, the three disappeared into the forest in search of Kyr and Gregor, Thog carrying Markus in the rear and Ashe in the lead, a slight limp to her walk as she trudged forward into the unknown.

* * *

Yup, this is my first fanfiction with these guys. This was supposed to be a oneshot but I guess it could go on for longer. Oh well. Tell me how you like this terrible thing. Also if you would like to see more, tell me, because otherwise I shall leave it be.


End file.
